Virginia Tech® home

Max Stephenson

Professor, Urban Affairs and Planning (UAP)
  • Director, Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance
Max Stephenson
201 West Roanoke St.
Blacksburg, VA 24061
  • Ph.D., Government, University of Virginia, 1985
  • M.P.A., University of Virginia, 1979
  • B.A., Government (High Distinction), University of Virginia, 1977
  • Nonprofit/nongovernmental organizations, governance, leadership, management, and civil society
  • Peacebuilding, international development and democratization
  • Community change processes
  • GIA 5574 (UAP 5574): Arts, Culture and Society 
  • SPIA 5514: Nongovernmental Organizations and International Development
  • SPIA 5534: Nonprofit Organization Leadership 
  • SPIA 5574: Nonprofit and Nongovernmental Organization Management 
  • UAP 5174: Planning Theory and History

Books

  • Fragile Foundations and Enduring Challenges: Essays on Democratic Politics and Governance, 124 essays. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2019.
  • RE: Reflections and Explorations Volume II: A Forum for Deliberative Dialogue. Editor, with Lyusyena Kirakosyan Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2017. 
  • RE: Reflections and Explorations: Essays on Public Policy and Governance.  Editor with Lyusyena Kirakosyan, Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2015. 
  • Arts and Community Change: Exploring Cultural Development Policies, Practices and Dilemmas.  Editor with Scott Tate. Oxford, UK: Routledge Publishers, 2015. 
  • Building Walls and Dissolving Borders: The Challenges of Alterity, Community and Securitizing Space. Editor with Laura Zanotti. Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishers, 2013. 
  • Peacebuilding through Community-Based NGOs: Paradoxes and Possibilities. With Laura Zanotti. Sterling, VA: Kumarian Press, 2012. 

Articles

  • Co-Principal Investigator with Leigh Anne Krometis, Virginia Tech Biological Systems Engineering and Cully Hession, Virginia Tech Biological Systems Engineering for submission to the National Science Foundation, “Ecological Restoration of Toxic Sites as a Catalyst for Rural Community Resilience,” November 2019.
  • Principal Investigator with Kim Niewolny, Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education, as Co-Principal Investigator, and Salma Ouadi, for “Workforce Vulnerability in the Moroccan Fisheries Industry: Challenges and Policy Options,” in development for partnership with Oxfam and UNICEF.  
  • Principal Investigator, with Renad Abbadi (Linguistics and Translation) and Muddather abu-Karaki (Media and Strategic Studies), Co-Principal Investigators, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University, Ma’an, Jordan for ongoing research program concerning refugees and vulnerable workers in southern Jordan. In development for USAID/Department of State consideration. 
  • Nonprofit/nongovernmental organizations, governance, leadership, management, and civil society
  • Peacebuilding, international development and democratization
  • Community change processes
  • Higher education: policy and practice
  • Humanitarian and refugee relief and disaster risk mitigation
  • Public policy and policy theory
  • Environmental politics, policy and planning